EUGENE -- Chase Ealey capped her incredible season with a bit of history, breaking the American record in the women's shot put to win the Diamond League title at the Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field.

"There’s something about this stadium that brings it out of me,” Ealey said. "I love this stadium. It kind of feels good to do it here and bring it home all the time.”

Ealey, who won gold in the event at the World Championships in Budapest last month, flirted with Michelle Carter's mark of 20.63m/67-8.25 set at the Rio Olympics in 2016 during Round 2, coming up just two millimeters short. 

But the record was clearly in jeopardy and indeed went down in the third round, when Ealey put the shot out to 20.76m/68-1.5. In the process she established a new world leading mark for the season and broke the meet record of 20.15m/66-1.5 set in 2013 by Valerie Adams of New Zealand.

“That was something really important to me this season, and to do it in the last meet -- I held it off, didn’t I -- but I’ve been wanting to do it all season and I told my coach I was gonna do it this meet," Ealey said. "And so I felt really good about it, I was so excited.”

AMERICAN RECORD 🚨

Chase Ealey wins the Diamond League women's shot put title with a 20.76m throw! #EugeneDL pic.twitter.com/uUpFtputq0

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) September 16, 2023

For Ealey the outcome was a testament to her perseverance as she was largely absent from the competitive circuit for most of the season while rehabbing a rib muscle injury and then getting her technique back in tune. 

“I have good people around me and I think that’s really important," she said. "It’s really made my throwing a lot better and everything better as a whole. I think with all that I can go through the lows and not feel so bad. I was able to get through the rough injury at the beginning of the year and come out on top at the end when it mattered.”

Ealey, who passed on her final three throws, was the only competitor to top the 20-meter mark in the competition.

Runner-up Sarah Milton of Canada came closest, throwing 19.94m/65-5 in the second round. Auriol Dingo of Portugal finished third with a personal-best  throw of 19.92m/65-4.24.

American Maggie Ewen, who entered the meet with a world-leading mark of 20.45m/67-1.25, finished fifth at 19.82m/65-0.5.